Cover Story
The water will win
Plan 2014 and life along Lake Ontario
Film review: ‘Obit’
Early on in “Obit” — the affectionate new documentary which gives viewers a look into the day-to-day experiences of the writers staffing the New York Times obituaries desk — one of the film’s subjects is asked if their work is depressing. After all, the job of an obituarist requires one to literally spend nearly every…
ART | ‘Doubles and Doppelgängers’
Ever been mistaken for a stranger, or met your double? That unsettling feeling that may accompany the phenomenon has deep cultural roots that span the globe and time. The German term for it, “doppelg#nger,” comes with a dark and doomy association, and variations on the theme is a common one in literature (such as Oscar…
AMERICANA | Lee Harvey Osmond
Yup, it’s Lee Harvey Osmond, he of Blackie and The Rodeo Kings fame. You’ve seen the show bills that Osmond’s sinister mug turns into wanted posters as he stares you down. Well, I’m here to tell you the sinister is real as it slowly permeates with a lost ache out of his music and into…
THEATER | ‘The Belle of Amherst’
“Success is counted sweetest/By those who ne’er succeed,” wrote Emily Dickinson in an early poem. Among the more successful interpretations of the enigmatic life, work, and personality of this great American poet is William Luce’s 1976 play “The Belle of Amherst,” which won a Tony Award for its star, the late Julie Harris. A 1990…
THEATER | ‘Incorruptible’
For a left-of-center theater experience offering both humor and poignancy, there’s the Rochester premiere of “Incorruptible,” Michael Hollinger’s 1996 play about two Catholic parishes in France in the Dark Ages, both claiming to possess the bones of St. Foy. As the local monks lose heart, a shady musician with one eye proposes a solution for…
Folk face the music
Folk Faces fan the flames of burning Americana and other root styles with a casual unpretentious swing. Electric guitar, banjo, washboard, saxophone, et al — the combined instrumentation isn’t the least bit normal. The band looks like it picked up its gear at a garage sale. Though at times they come on frenetic, Folk Faces…
SPECIAL EVENT | History on Tap
There might be a few anachronisms — I’m not sure if Western New York settlers rode in on food trucks — but the Genesee Country Village and Museum’s History on Tap event is still a unique way for adults to see the historic village. The 21-and-older happy hour will feature beer, wine, and cider samples,…
Album review: ‘The Wishing Well’
Susanna Rose “The Wishing Well” Self-released susannarose.bandcamp.com Susanna Rose is trying to break my heart, break me down, and make me sad. Her new album, “The Wishing Well,” is mellow in the extreme with chordal patterns that hang like battleship-grey skies in February. She handed the disc to me assuring me, matter-o-factly, it was even…
LECTURE | ‘A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on Islamophobia’
Coming up at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park on Saturday, May 27: “A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on Islamophobia.” Etin Anwar, associate professor and chair of religious studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, will lead the workshop. Anwar is the author of “Gender and Self in Islam,” and she was featured in the WXXI documentary…
Relish opens in former Open Face location
The space that houses Relish (651 South Avenue) is hardly recognizable from its former iteration, Open Face Sandwich Eatery. Owner Stephen Rees has brightened up the place with white walls and light accents and had recently finished painting the ceiling when we recently sat down to talk. “At this current juncture, it’s just me making…
Album review: ‘Meditations on Freedom’
Noah Preminger “Meditations on Freedom” Dry Bridge Records noahpreminger.com Many people had strong reactions to the recent presidential election. The response of one of the nation’s top young saxophonist’s comes in the form of music. Noah Preminger’s “Meditations on Freedom” is a collection of tunes that evoke and react to the current political climate in…
Feedback 5/24
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in…
Warren’s budget ready for scrutiny
Mayor Lovely Warren presented her proposed budget for the coming fiscal year on Friday. And while it contains nothing dramatic – no big layoffs, no big tax increases, no major new programs – the budget is noteworthy for the picture of Rochester it provides. Now it heads to analysis: by the public, City Council, and…
Holographic tech hits RMSC
This summer, the Rochester Museum and Science Center will present a new interactive exhibition featuring a display of working holograms and interactive holographic technology. The star of the new exhibit is a Holographic Laser Projector, developed and donated by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF. Fraunhofer is based in Jena, Germany,…
The ‘unbelievable’ saga of President Trump
This feels worse than Nixon. The Watergate scandal was riveting, sure. And if we’d known then what we know now about Nixon’s emotional instability, we’d have been more troubled than we were. Watergate did involve a president who lied – about a burglary – and tried to obstruct justice, but that was nothing like this.…
Dems pick candidates, head to primaries
The Monroe County Democratic Committee has something of an unofficial maxim: primaries are inevitable. So it goes with the 2017 city races. The Democrats have designated their candidates for the mayor’s race, five at-large City Council seats, and three city school board seats. Who plans to wage a primary isn’t yet clear, and may not…
HIP-HOP | Chance the Rapper
Who knew that getting suspended from high school for 10 days would land you a successful career in hip-hop? Six years ago, Chicago-based rapper, singer, and songwriter Chance the Rapper recorded the “10 Day” mixtape while home from school for being caught in possession of marijuana. His path has been paved with gold ever since,…
ROCK | Biters
When Gene Simmons declared that rock is finally dead, he probably wasn’t aware of the Biters. The Atlanta-based quartet isn’t as much a band as it is a wrecking ball of wild hedonism. Fueled by booze, groupies, fire-eating, car chases, wrecked furniture, and near rogue-ish anarchy, it’s a classic nod to musicians like early-era Alice…
METAL | Jucifer
I had brain surgery a few years ago where I was required to be fully conscious while they drilled a hole the size of a quarter into my head. It was the loudest thing I’d ever heard — if you don’t count seeing sludge metal duo of doom Jucifer, which I’ve done about half a…
Film explores impact of when a rape results in motherhood
For all of our debates over the right for women to terminate unwanted pregnancies, there’s less conversation about women who decide to keep children conceived through rape. Filmmaker and Flower City Arts Center Artist-In-Residence Nicholle La Vann is creating a documentary about her own assault and her broken relationship with her daughter, in the effort…
CLASSICAL/OPERA | RPO performs “La Bohème”
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra will close its 2016-17 Philharmonics series in grand style, with one of the most crowd-pleasing, enduring works in the operatic canon: Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème.” RPO Music Director Ward Stare will lead a strong cast of dynamic singers, including Inna Dukach as the seamstress Mimi; Harold Meers as her lover, the…
ART | ‘Rule Breaker, Fun Maker’
Photographer and Image City Photography Gallery founding member Dan Neuberger was a beloved fixture to the Rochester arts scene, both as a maker and staunch supporter of other creatives. I was glad to have the opportunity to get to know the joyful, impishly playful man when CITY profiled him during the run of his last…
ROCK | Cage The Elephant
This band has really nice dynamics between its rhythmic sprinkle and its speed on the straightaways. Although there’s an overall emo overcast to the songs, Cage The Elephant is a good time. I discovered this all from listening to its records — not live like I did last year where the sound in the venue…
Film review: ‘The Lovers’
An unhappily married couple finally decides to end things for good, only to find themselves unexpectedly falling back in love in “The Lovers,” Azazel Jacobs’ wry grownup romance about love, sex, and the difficulties of finding happiness at any age. Mary (Debra Winger) and Michael (Tracy Letts) seem to have checked out of their marriage…
Film review: ‘Alien Covenant’
Your feelings about the latest installment of the “Alien” franchise will depend largely on how you felt about “Prometheus.” The 2012 prequel marked Ridley Scott’s return to the science fiction series he established nearly 40 years ago. A direct sequel to that ambitious and polarizing blockbuster, “Alien: Covenant” splits the difference between continuing the earlier…
